Susan Marguerite Simkin

Susan Marguerite Simkin died Friday, February 5th in hospice care at Socorro General Hospital (Socorro, NM).

A graduate of Earlham College

(BA) and the University of Wisconsin (PhD), she was a Professor of Astronomy at Michigan State University for many years. She was as dedicated to good teaching as she was to scientific research. Her research focus was in Extragalactic Astronomy, for which she used both optical and radio telescopes. After research fellowships in the Netherlands and Australia, she valued the many international colleagues and friends she had met. Later in life, she provided funding and guidance to other astronomers by working at the National Science Foundation.

The daughter of Norman Victor Smith and Alice Margaret Gullen Smith, Susan was born in Detroit on July 26, 1940. She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Roger D Simkin, and is survived by a brother, Dean Lance (Pat) Smith and a sister, Martha Kathleen Smith. She is also survived by two sons, Daniel Ian (Joyce) Simkin and Benjamin Andrew Simkin, and one niece, Amanda Natalie Smith.

A memorial service will be announced at a future date. Donations in her name may be made to the American Astronomical Society.